Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Lyrics And Memes Explained

Taylor Swift's latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” has sent waves across the Internet, sparking praise, criticism, lyric analysis, and memes.

Last Friday, two hours after unveiling the 16-track album, Swift revealed that “The Tortured Poets Department” was a double album, with no less than 31 songs.

“I had written so much tortured poetry in the last 2 years and wanted to share it all with you,” Swift wrote on Instagram.

The Tortured Poets Department is already the biggest album of the year, the first album in Spotify history to reach a billion streams in a week.

A surprising amount of Matty Healy

Swifties were expecting an album full of heart-wrenching songs following the singer's break-up with boyfriend Joe Alwyn, but many were surprised to learn that most of the songs referenced her brief fling with Matty Healy, singer of The 1975

A detailed lyrical analysis of the album by Vulture put the total number of Alwyn-inspired songs at seven, while Healy allegedly inspired no fewer than thirteen. Swift's current boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, appears to have inspired only two songs.

An outspoken segment of Swift's fan base saw Healy as a problematic choice for Swift, due to his controversial and offensive comments; some even wrote one open letter urging Taylor to report Healy.

While much of Swift's star power comes from the parasocial relationship she's cultivated with her fan base, “The Tortured Poets Department” dials back the Swifties' excesses.

The lyrics of “But Daddy I Love Him” ​​explicitly condemn the self-righteous Swifties for their meddling: “I'll tell you something about my good name, it's only mine to dishonor” and “God save the most judgmental idiots who say who wants the best for me.”

In turn, Swift's fan base took to defending the star from what they believed to be a barrage of unfair criticism and negative comments.

Some even delved into absurd and conspiratorial commentary, framing the surge in media criticism as a coordinated effort to bring Swift down, despite her album's overwhelming commercial success.

Harder criticism of Taylor Swift

Swift, as amazingly successful as she is, seems to have overplayed her hand with this release, with many commenters expressing Swift fatigue.

Swift has long since reached the point where her presence in pop culture is inescapable, and for those outside of the fan base, the Swift phenomenon can feel overrated.

While many outlets gave “The Tortured Poets Department” reviews (Rolling Stone gave the album a perfect score of 100), others were more critical, with some seeing the album as a overstuffed and undercooked.

A scathing review from Paste Magazine was published without a title, supposedly because of the potential security concerns of angry Swifties.

The anonymous author criticized not only the content of the album, but the fact that Swift is portraying herself as a “tortured poet”, arguing that her “relatable” persona contrasts with her status as a billionaire with a private jet .

The contradiction between Swift's carefully cultivated image and the reality of her life as a megastar led to further criticism, with some seeing Swift and her fan base as overly defensive.

Taylor Swift references her feud with Kim Kardashian in 'Thanks aIMee'

The track 'thanK you aIMee' sees Swift describe triumphing over a 'thug' described as 'bronze' and 'spray tanned'. According to her lyrics, Swift's bully remains anonymous: “I've changed your name and any real clues that define you.”

The Swifys really like to look for clues in the pop star's releases; his dedication to uncovering hidden meaning has seen the fanbase jokingly compared to QAnon.

But Swifties didn't need to rack their brains to figure out “Aimee's” identity, as “KIM” is clearly spelled out in all caps in the title.

What was Taylor Swift's feud with Kim Kardashian?

The feud between Swift, Kim Kardashian and ex-husband Kanye West dates back to when West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

The feud escalated in 2016, after West referenced Swift in a misogynistic line in his song, “Famous,” and claimed he had been granted permission to use the line in a phone call with Swift.

Swift's PR people disputed that, and Kardashian responded by leaking an edited recording of the phone call, which appeared to verify West's claim. Swift took issue with the leak and, in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, described West as “two-faced,” noting that their feud went beyond the leaked phone call.

“Basically, I got really tired of the dynamic between him and me,” Swift said. “And that wasn't just based on what happened on that phone call and with that song, it was kind of a chain reaction of things.”

In 2020, the full phone call was finally leaked online; Swift claimed to be vindicated by the unedited recording. Three years later, Swift spoke about the psychological toll the feud took on her in an interview with Time, which named her its 2023 Person of the Year.

“You have a totally fabricated frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, that Kim Kardashian edited and then released to tell everyone she was a liar,” Swift said. “It took me psychologically to a place I had never been.”

Fans and critics had mixed reactions to Swift referencing the feud; some seemed satisfied for Swift expressing her anger, while others felt it was time for the pop star to move on.

The '1830's' and 'GTA' lyrics inspire many memes

Out-of-context screenshots of clumsy lyrics from Swift's album quickly became memes, mocked by many social media users.

While Matty Healy is believed to have inspired most of the album, one of Swift's songs referencing Travis Kelce proved popular, with many memes referencing the line “Brand new, full throttle, Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto”.

The most puzzling lyric, however, was from the song “I Hate It Here”, which sees Swift declare that she would like to live back in “the 1830s”, but “without all the racists”.

Commenters on social media found the line amusingly tone-deaf and shallow.

Swift's song “Who's Afraid of Little of Little Old Me?” includes the line “You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where I was raised”, which caused many jokes; the line seems like a reference to growing up under the spotlight of fame, but in the context of Swift's comfortable upbringing, many found the lyrics funny.

Many commentators used the line to poke fun at the defining events of his youth.

A viral post by Monica Lewinsky was crowned the winner of the meme medley, with Swift's lyrics captioning an image of the White House.

For Swift, “The Tortured Poets Department” is another resounding commercial success, inviting harsher criticism, over-analysis and the inevitable derision that comes with spending so much time in the spotlight.

Airing her grievances, heartbreak, and pushing back at obsessive Swifties, Swift seems to openly lament the price of fame; his golden cage is his “asylum”.

“The Department of Tortured Poets” may be too long and clumsy at times, but it is a work of unflinching honesty.